


an exercise in family

by lunar_bf



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, also brief mention of taakitz but its like 2 whole words, i just want these boys to love each other, ish, technically angus is there but he doesnt't have any lines so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-28 05:00:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10072994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunar_bf/pseuds/lunar_bf
Summary: “You know we care about you, right?” Taako’s eyes snap to Merle, who’s looking at him fondly. It’s not a way he looks often, but it’s not exactly terrible. If anything, Taako likes the warm look in his eyes. He smiles again, and this time it’s genuine and stays with him long after he leaves the room.“Yeah, I care about you guys too.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> lol this is my first finished piece in a long time... please be sweet to me ;_;  
> comments & kudos would be much appreciated, but of course aren't necessary

“Taako?”  
The voice is muffled and sounds distant. He can feel his own throat vibrate as all he manages is a weak groan in response. Pain engulfs his body, radiating fiercely from the slash in his gut — it feels like he’s being stabbed a million times over. He didn’t think he was moving, but all of a sudden his head is resting on Magnus’ lap and cradled in his hands. His ear twitches weakly as thick fingers card through his hair.

“Just hang in there buddy, alright?” he says. “Merle’ll be here any second.” But he looks up and around as he says it, and Taako’s no genius but he can tell the difference between truth and wishful thinking. 

“Don’t… Don’t worry about me, dawg. Taako’s good.” His voice is weak and raspy and convincing absolutely nobody. Magnus looks down at him with his eyebrows pinched and eyes watery, his mouth curled in a painful frown. He rubs his thumb over and over against Taako’s sharp cheekbone and it contrasts against the pain that’s slowly, slowly dulling. Is he going into shock? Is he dying? His eyes feel heavy — Magnus and Merle won’t be too upset if he takes a quick snooze, right?

All of a sudden, the hands on his face grip him tighter and he’s being shaken. “Taako? Taako, you need to stay awake! For me, a-and for Merle, and Angus, _fuck_ , even your creepy Skeletor boyfriend you think we don’t know about! Please, c’mon, Taako, _please!_ Not you too…” His voice gets progressively more teary and warbled until his breath is hitching. Fat tears run down Magnus’ cheeks and his expression is pained and _fuck_ , if that doesn’t make Taako’s heart feel like it’s being stomped on. It takes mountains of effort, but he manages to bring his smaller, thinner hand up to cover his partner’s. He forces himself to focus on staying awake and takes in a hefty breath, trying not to choke on his own blood that’s spilling up his throat. 

“Hey, Magno, I don’t get… I don’t get sappy, like, _ever_ , so stop blubbering and listen up.” At first he doesn’t think he hears him, but Magnus bites his lip and tries to muffle his sobs. Taako lets himself smile, just a little. “You… You and Merle… These past couple years with you two haven’t sucked, yanno? I dunno shit about family but I think- I think you guys are the closest thing I’ve had to one of those in a looooong time. Since I was like, I dunno, fuckin’ twelve.” He pauses for a breath, and then two. Magnus looks shell-shocked for a moment, but before he can react there’s heavy footsteps and a yell of “Hey!” Taako can’t find the energy to turn to his head so instead he watches as Magnus looks up and his face alights with hope.

He yells something, but Taako’s hearing is quickly fading and everything around him ceases to make any sense. Why is he here, why is he lying on the ground? Whose lap is he in? Another face pops into view above him and his lips move, but he doesn’t have the wits about him to try and read his lips. Instead he lets his head loll to the side and he must be closing his eyes because everything is getting dimmer, dimmer, dimmer until his vision is gone entirely and the world just.

Stops.

***

He wakes up on someone’s back, bouncing with their steady footsteps. From the ridiculously large hands supporting his thighs and the uncomfortable press of armor into his skin, he guesses it’s Magnus. Which would make sense. The image of dense little Merle trying to carry him makes him chuckle weakly. He feels Magnus’ grip on his thighs tighten and he turns his head towards him as much as he can with the awkward angle.

“Hey there, buddy. You doin’ okay?”

A groan is all Taako can manage in response. His throat feels like sandpaper and though he’s frigid, his body is grimy with sweat. He can tell he’s not on death’s door anymore, but he’s definitely worse for wear. Pain shoots through him alongside nauseating sickness, and this makes him bury his face in the crook of Magnus’ neck and groan again.

Merle puts his hand just below Taako’s knee, as high as he can reach with him being carried as he is. “I know you still prob’ly feel like shit,” he says, “but you were pretty beat to hell, and I’m all outta spell slots.”

Taako tries to swallow, but instead coughs dryly, which, _ow_ , makes his throat feels like it’s been fucked raw and his gut churn and radiate with pain in a worrying way. He takes a few steadying breaths and tries again, and this time succeeds. He lifts his head just a fraction so that Merle could hear him and says, soft and raspy, “Maybe y’ should stop waistin’ them on Zones of Truth, you shitty cleric. Boy, sure do appreciate knowin’ that shopkeeper was lying to us about how great his soup was now that I’m two seconds away from fucking dying. _Really_ glad I have that piece of info stored up in the ol’ dome. _Fuck._ ”

Merle and Magnus laugh, and if it’s edged with desperate relief, no one says anything about it. 

He hears Merle’s gravely voice say something back but his head is swimming again and before he can do anything else, Taako blacks out.

***

The second time Taako wakes up he’s laying on something soft and giving with what feels like ever fur on the moon base stacked on top of him. He wrestles his arms from under the covers to shield his eyes as he blinks them open and after adjusting he realizes he’s in their shared living room on the couch. He looks around and sees the other two on the other side of the coffee table — Merle propped against a chair with his nose buried in some book and Magnus sitting in it, fast asleep and snoring. Angus is there too, curled snoring into Magnus’ side, and Taako isn’t sure whether he should be surprised by this. He probably shouldn’t be, given the kid’s reputation for being grossly emotional, but it’s hard for him to get used to being cared about like this. He struggles into a sit, the furs pooling at his waist. 

Merle looks up from his reading at Taako and gives him a small, worn smile. “How ‘ya feeling, bud?” His voice is quiet. Taako rubs at his eyes and cards his hands through his hair that’s far too greasy and tangled for his liking, he needs a shower mad badly. His hands flop back onto his lap and he leans against the fat couch cushion. He’s exhausted, despite being asleep for God knows how long. 

“Like I got run over by a battlewagon.” His answer draws a little chuckle from Merle, who shuts his book.

“Yeah, well, you haven’t been lookin’ so hot either. You remember what happened landside?” Taako nods. It’s vague, but he’s pretty sure he recalls most of it. “After we got back we got healed up and rested, but you’ve been in-and-out for a couple days. Somethin’ about an infection or whatever,” He shrugs. It’s silent for a moment. Merle toys with a leaf sprouting from his soulwood arm and doesn’t make eye contact. He waits for him to continue, but he just keeps on fiddling and looking anywhere but the couch across from him. It’s awkward and unlike Merle to be so hesitant and Taako feels a feelings jam coming on, hard core. _Dammit._ He sighs, and takes the bait.

“What’s up with you?” It comes out a little harsher than he intended, but he know’s Merle won’t take any offense so it. Taako watches him struggle with himself for a couple seconds more, lips pursing, before he says anything.

“M’ sorry for not being able to heal you all too much, Taako. I guess it’s mostly my fault you’ve been feelin’ like shit these past few days. I-I know I don’t always use spells for the _best_ things but I-.. I dunno.” 

Taako blinks, stunned for a second — Merle was the stubborn type, always thought he was right and almost never admitted guilt, so this must’ve hit him pretty hard. He tries to give him a smile and wave it off, but it doesn’t sit right on his face. “It’s no biggie, homie, I mean hey!” He shrugs his shoulders. “At least you healed me! I’m pretty sure I was just about to kick the bucket before you showed up!” Vague horror crosses Merle’s face and, shit, that was kind of the opposite of what Taako was going for. Good going, dipshit. He lets his smile drop and finds himself looking away, at his covered feet. God, he _hated_ getting all personal and deep like this. Not his style. 

“I’m not really — not really used to being looked out for, I guess. Like, for basically my whole fuckin’ life it’s been the Taako Taaco show, starring Taako, y’know? Not a lot of guest appearances or, or co-hosts.” The last word leaves a bitter taste in his mouth and pushes forth memories he’d rather not think about right now. That’s a sob story for later. “So, I dunno, I mean, it’s kinda nice. Having you clowns around. Like, _yeah_ , I’m a little fuckin miffed that you burn spell slots like it’s your job or something, but a Cure Wounds is a hell of a lot more than I would’ve gotten without you.” He doesn’t know what else to say, so he rubs his eyes again and sighs. He felt drained. 

He’s about to pull himself from under the furs and clean himself when Merle says, “You know we care about you, right?” Taako’s eyes snap to Merle, who’s looking at him fondly. It’s not a way he looks often, but it’s not exactly terrible. If anything, Taako likes the warm look in his eyes. He smiles again, and this time it’s genuine and stays with him long after he leaves the room.

“Yeah, I care about you guys too.”

He know's that they can't fix everything. He knows that this, them, they're only at the start of the way to healing each other. It won't all be perfect, and it won't all be easy. Taako _knows_ , he's tried this all before. Tried to help, tried to be helped. It's never worked. But this time, with Magnus Burnsides, a warm and cuddly but sometimes scary as hell human tank that misses his wife more than anything, and Merle Highchurch, an arguably terrible cleric with a sarcastic streak a mile long but who tries his best to be what everyone needs him to be, he feels like he has a chance. Like _they_ have a chance. Together. 

(When Taako comes out of the shower, dressed but hair still damp, Magnus crushes him in a bear hug and while Taako yells indignantly, he mutters into his shoulder to _never, ever scare me like that again! I thought you were gonna die!_ Somehow, Merle gets roped into the embrace as well. It’s warm and comforting and despite his loud complaining, Taako wouldn’t really have it any other way. He feels like he’s home.)


End file.
